Friday, February 29, 2008

1. ottawa is having some serious problems right now, and it's an unfortunate downward spiral with no end in sight. my theory is that it started with ray emery's 'bad attitude' and sprouted from there. you have to presume that there was good energy in the sens' lockerroom at some point; spezza used to live with him, and the 'cockroach incident' would imply at least some good humour....

emery's suspensions from missing/being late for practise should never had been publicized, and for that i blame bryan murray. it made the coach look like a pushover, and the player utterly untradeable.... not smart [and he's payin' for it now]. as for solutions, i'm stumped. benching or demoting the problem goaltender no longer seems like the appropriate punishment, but removing him from the team might be the answer..... *sigh* i'm glad i'm not a sens fan...

2. the penguins traded so many players for hossa that it's gotta be a drag to lose him midway through his first game.

3. flames v. ducks tonight. flambés have recalled nystrom, so somebody's gonna sit.... with parros in the ducks lineup, i doubt it'll be godard.... i saw a thing on the news that showed tangs practising on the first line with iggy, so i guess the lineup will look something like this:

Wednesday, February 27, 2008

well the deadline came and went with nary a peep outta the flaming Cs, which (in my opinion) was probably the right thing to do. the return on a couple of underperforming rentals like huselius and langkow was presumeably minimal, so keeping them for the stretch was surely proper. we don't need to be overly concerned about cap space until the summer, at which time i fully expect daz to make a move or two....

karma bit the flames in the butt last night for the wins last week. the disallowed goal by voros and the two posts hits by detroit came back to haunt the boys, with both lombo and juice ringing iron versus the avs. kipper let in a couple of stinkers, and the penalties on hale in the third (which provided the tying goal) and iggy in OT (which led to the winner) were debateable at best. unfortunately, we all know that a cup-winning team should be able to overcome these things enroute to notching wins...

on the good side, lombardi and boyd were men on a mission. both had more hustle than anyone else wearing red last night and made a solid statement about wanting to play, and wanting to play big minutes. i'm still fully supporting the idea of lombardi playing on the first line (as i have been all year), and i think with iggy and juice's current production somewhere in the depths of a septic tank, now might be the time to do it....

in other news, we shall wait and see if dion gets to sit out a game or two for a debateably dirty hit on ben guite. apparently guite looks like someone who would steal phaneuf's truck from outside a starbucks, and was therefore marked for punishment. i say fair enough. i'm sure dion will get razzed about that by his teammates for eons to come. besides.... who stops for coffee at westbrook mall ??!?!

and finally, in the crowd at the dome last night, i saw a sign that read "vanderneuf." sorta made me smile....

Tuesday, February 26, 2008

big shoutouts to the boys from covered in oil for taking part.... most specifically to chris who i met at duncan's birthday at squirly's.... nice work. ;)

IN FURTHER NEWS: i seriously cannot wait till the end of day. i can't believe the networks (namely sportsnet) are STILL talking about tanguay being traded. they are clearly lacking in actual rumours, since nobody seems to understand that there is absolutely zero need/value to trading tanguay today. if sutter chooses to dump him for cap space, it will happen in the offseason. period. end of story.

Monday, February 25, 2008

last week, i received an interesting and unsolicited comment on hitthepost from the editor of the new york times slap shot blog, outlining a project they were considering. the idea was to have an independent blogger from each of the thirty NHL teams to respond to a short questionnaire, which would be posted on their site in the coming weeks. They've apparently dubbed it "hockey night in blogdom."

the calgary blogosphere is an awesome group and i'm so proud to be a part of it. with a statistical genius like metrognome, a sarcastic whiz kid like rob, tag team intellects like leanne & dave, an experienced & knowledgeable writer like duncan, a pure hockey lover like steal thunder & well-versed critics like matt & andy, i'm entirely flattered to have been the one asked to take part. and by such a reputable organization like the new york times....

Sunday, February 24, 2008

knowing that i can't be the only one who LOVED lazing around the house for a noontime game on a sunday, i presume i was in good company thinking it odd that tangs would leave a game midway through, with what seemed a phantom injury (so close to deadline day).... but would the flames' brass really pull him from a game in progress ?? no, right ? it'd be much classier to pull him off the bus after the game, and leave him standing in the parking lot....

a nice win by the C's today, even though this should've been a much tighter game. voros absolutely scored on the disallowed goal, and kipper should have seen much less rubber. oh, and boy did we take some bad, bad penalties (i'm talkin' to YOU conroy, hale)... still, i like the fact that we haven't been giving up 3-4 goals, of late and i credit that to the addition of vandermeer ---or more specifically, the deletion of warrener & eriksson.

colour me superstitious but the flames are 4-0 with the #18 decal on their helmets....

tanguay's early departure allowed marcus nilson to show he's still interested and able to play, notching some extra minutes with conroy and nolan. of course, nilson's promotion to the second line left the fourth line with no left winger..... so smith and godard just sat around the rest of the game (a total of three shifts for the two players), which pains me to no end....

"dion can call me 'dad', not you...." said craig conroy to jarome iginla in a lighthearted dressingroom interview.

tomorrow, the flames suit up against the wild --in a noontime game that i'm looking oh-so forward to watching in my pyjamas, with a mug full of tea and a bowl full of oatmeal on a sunday morning.

it'll be a good matchup: a streaking group of southern albertans vs. the division-leading mid-westerners.... i've got no clue who will win the tilt.

what i DO know is that rob from the GSN likes the dairy queen at market mall, and that duncan from the flamesblog likes to hear bit of karaoke (unlike spezza) whilst drinking a pint. i had a busy saturday night....

additionally, i'm very excited to fill you all in on the little project that i've been invited to take part in. it's scheduled to go up on monday morning, first thing. i'll link to it at that point.... should be good.... :D

Saturday, February 23, 2008

is it at all curious that jim vandermeer's first game on the flames' blueline coincided with kipper's first shutout ?? i was only able to watch the first period, so i could be overestimating, but it seems to me that adding the former red deer rebel (i'm sure we'll hear this stat for the entirety of vandermeer's tenure) has definitely solidified calgary's defense. i base this purely and entirely on the fact that dion only played 25 minutes, david hale only played 13, and the middle five defenders all averaged around 20 minutes...

oh, and kipper had an alright night, too..... ;)

iron mike apparently tore a strip off the boys before the game in phoenix. three wins later and it would seem that the decibel level of that speech has allowed it to reverberate in the collective ears of the team. if the flames respond so positively to getting reamed (having notched wins following sutter's dressing room speech, as well as regehr's 'calling out' of his teammates), then i should think keenan is definitely the right guy for the job. until now i had remained undecided on the coaching subject...

the flames played a classic sutter-style match last night. phaneuf took out kopecky with a massive hit in the corner. hale snuck a high stick into dallas drake's mouth. chelios took a bullet of his left leg. osgood looked like a tender 'tender. add those bruises to the list of injured (lidstrom, rafalski, kronwall, cleary), plus the loss of matt ellis on waivers, and i'd think the canucks will hand the wings another loss tonight. which is sortof too bad....

kudos to the calgary flames for continuing to wear #18 on their helmets for the untimely and devastating passing of mickey renaud. i presume the reason for detroit also sporting the decal is the team's geographic proximity to the windsor spitfires. classy.

the flames are into the land of 10,000 lakes today for a midday tilt tomorrow with the hometown wild. it would be redundant to call this game important. they all are. the flames have been on a decent roll, of late, and i like their chances against one of the best teams in the NHL. let's call it a regulation draw, just to pain vancouverites, with the wild notching the W in OT/SO.

Thursday, February 21, 2008

i'm gonna totally throw everybody off by posting almost a full twenty-four hours before game time, but i've hardly slept and my buddy is flying IN FROM toronto at *ahem* 3am (which means by the time we've had a few beers and caught up, i'll probably spend most of tomorrow in bed).

what was i talking about ?ohyeah. hardly slept...which explains the little hiccup above that threw off MG ;)

so, presumeably, tomorrow will be the grand unveiling of our saviour, jim vandermeer (MAN i want to refer to him as 'van der sloot', the dutch aruban dude who supposedly killed that american girl...... the newest flame is a phenomenal nickname just WAITING to happen.... buuuuut i digress). i'm very curious to see where he fits into the chart, and curious to almost the same degree if keenan will start him against the wings....

the redwings, themselves, are a bit of a quandary, of late. a third of their losses, this season, have come in the past ten games and the downward spiral does not appear to be anywere near over, with the losses of hasek, cleary, rafalski and kronwall in about the same time frame. and, as though some NHL force is trying to even out the good fortune that's been going on in the motor city, they get an extra kick in the teeth by having their captain and leader, nick lidstrom, sitting in the pressbox with a sprained MCL.

my POINT is that i'm really not sure who's gonna play for either team on friday. the 'wings will have to ice a bunch of guys from the grand rapids griffins, while any of eriksson, warrener, vandermeer, boyd, primeau, nilson, godard, smith could suit up for the flames. and these two statements insinuate that i have no idea whatsoever who will win the game.... i mean, who would you pick ? the grand rapids griffins or a skeleton crew of mostly role-playing barrel-scrapers ?

hmph. tough call.

i'd LOVE to see vandermeer dress [mostly because it'll be nice to have a #4, which was left vacated by the departures of both hamrlik and leopold] in lieu of warrener. i'm far too lazy tonight to look into which point he plays, but we all know dion can play either.....

Wednesday, February 20, 2008

so i had to work through the game and missed it in its entirety (though i was able to watch the progressing eclipse, in stages). i also missed the whole vandermeer trade thing, but that's besides the point.

vandermeer: good trade.

game: good game.

in reading the shift chart, i was totally thrown off by sarich getting a puck in the face. hale playing with regehr ??? regehr shifting with warrener like old times ??? i thought keenan (read: playfair, defensive specialist) had totally blown a gasket and forgotten how defensive pairings worked. the highlights showed a different story... is it wrong to say the disc of frozen rubber might've actually knocked some sense into #6 while it knocked out five teeth ? he seems to have played his best game in ages.....

other thoughts:

- if iggy keeps having games like this, we might honestly have to coin "the iggy pair", as opposed to"the gordie howe hattrick." a goal and a fight is nothing to scoff at, and our boy jarome has been chalking these up like they're going out of style....

- tanguay has either proven himself invaluable, or upped his forseeable trade return.... discuss

and for you folks:

there might be some interesting developments happening over here at hitthepost. stay tuned... ;)

Tuesday, February 19, 2008

i'm afraid to say it, but the flames have looked a lot like a slumping team for an unfortunate amount of time. the wins have come with a couple of hard-pushes at the end of games where kipper looked superhuman. the losses have come pretty much the rest of the time.

it's painful to watch a solid team fall apart at the seams...

a comment on battle of alberta, subversive proclaimed, "The Flames are awesome. The only reason they're losing is because they play like shit so often."

i think this comment is hilarious, in the way that makes me want to hang my head and cry juuust a little.

our defensive woes can no longer be hidden by the security blanket that iggy and kipper have so oft provided in past months. there are glaring errors nightly, huge gaffes that lead to defecits that the unstable offense can not rally back from. most nights, we're generating enough offense to win (2 or 3 goals), but we are giving up twice that.... it's an impossible situation. eriksson and warrener need to be benched indefinitely, and sarich needs immediate demotion to 3rd pairing minutes, which leaves two enormous, bleeding holes on the right point that aucoin is in no shape to fill alone.

this team is in a LOT of trouble...

if sutter does not amp up the blueline, the 07/08 flames will be favorites to bow out in the first round, if they even duck under the the line and into the post season to begin with. i, for one, will not hold my breath on our chances if this team looks the same next wednesday.

as for tonight: blowout. the young guns will be anxious about the looming deadline, and the vets will be underperforming as usual. bryzgalov will not pitch a shutout, but he'll be stellar nonetheless. sjöstrom will notch his first career hattrick on a flailing kiprusoff. lombardi should (by all accounts) end the night about a -3 from not knowing who his linemates will be shift-to-shift, though there will be about 8 amazing lombo passes out front with nobody there to tip it in.

Sunday, February 17, 2008

i'm not sure why i never considered it before but.... as if we're not gonna deal a goaltender for some roster goods.think about it.

in the system: krahnmcelhinneykeetleylalandeirvingspratt.

how many of those have value, as tradebait ?keetley, irving, debateably mcelhinney.

i can't see us dealing irving or keetley, to be honest. not yet. but with kipper signed into the next decade, we certainly don't' need both.... it's just a matter of figuring out who's gonna be better (tough call, but my money's on keetley)...

Saturday, February 16, 2008

here's my one-liner summation on last night's game: we played exactly the same as we did in SJ (ie: brutally) except kipper couldn't keep us in it like he did against the sharks, and dying-seconds heroics don't work when you're down by three.

here's my opinion on how the flames start winning games:

sutter needs to trade for a top-four defenseman. BADLY. i have no idea how we afford one but eriksson needs to be relieved of those duties, and (unfortunately) i'm starting to think sarich does too. i'm no longer sure what his problem is but he's begun to make regehr look bad.

the truth is, that we've only got two top four guys, which leaves five defensmen currently fit only for the bottom pairing.... i really don't know how to make our seven guys into a cup winner when three of them are liabilities most nights, as of late [i'm not including hale or aucoin in this because i still think, if kept to a 3rd pairing role, they're valuable].

the biggest concern for me, right now, is that our team has FAR too many players underperforming considering their salaries:

Wednesday, February 13, 2008

it's been a few days since i've actually talked about the flames, as i've been sidetracked by the zed-neck affair, and commodore taking up my lucky #44....

i only really have three words to describe last night's victory against the sharks:dion, dion, dion...

in my opinion, the game erased all doubts from any naysayers minds that six years and 39 million dollars was "too much" for the strappng blueliner. with iggy in a mini-slump, dion took the reigns of leadership and rode this one all the way to the win column... the tying goal was classic phaneuf: a bullet from the point, invisible to the 'keeper. the OT goal was a thing of beauty: though TRIPLE covered, the hulking lad muscled across the blueline, kept his stick on the puck, and delivered a buttery soft pass cross-ice to a streaking #12.

there is no question that the flames were out-worked and out-played but they were not out-hearted.... it was one of those dig-deep type efforts where the character of a team shines through in the dying minutes (at least i would like to think that this is the character of the 07/08 flames). oh, and kipper had a stellar outing to boot.

- as the trade deadline approaches, i've been doing a bit of reading... it seems that the devils are looking for a centre and a defenseman.... i'm not sure who we'd get out of them, but langkow and warrener would be a great fit for NJ.... ;)

- don't get me wrong: i love dion (see above) and regehr, and i'm perfectly content, currently, with aucoin and hale in their roles (if not their salaries). i think sarich will turn his game around (soon, preferrably). BUT i do wish we had a bit of extra dough to pull dan boyle out of tampa or tomas kaberle out of toronto. those are two invaluable, and available, defensemen that i would love to see in flaming red.

- commodore & stillman for corvo & eaves. even stevens. sens gets better now, canes gets better later. dayum are the ottawa faithful gonna love big red.... in saying so, part of me wonders if there is any way commodore might come back to cowtown in the summer... i know he lives here in the offseason, and i have to query if sutter would want him (and if he'd want to come)... not sure where he'd fit into the mix, mind you....

Sunday, February 10, 2008

does anyone else find it a bit strange that the only two major skate-to-throat accidents, in the NHL (in my lifetime, anyways), have both occurred in buffalo ? wow... hopefully zednik will have a quick recovery and not suffer from all the PTSD/OCD stuff that plagued malarchuk well into retirement....

...i actually am really kinda loving david hale. another excellent game last night, ending even with eighteen minutes on the ice [extra minutes spent paired with sarich while regehr was in the box].... he spent some time on the PK, was steady as the only guy back on a 2-on-1 and each of his bad plays was followed immediately with a sweet recovery....

Friday, February 8, 2008

i'm sure most of you are aware that i'm unemployed. i've been doing some odd jobs and taking days of work here and there, so i'm not broke or starving (i know you're concerned), but it also affords me the most ridiculous amount of time to ponder and research things like this:

do the flames win or lose more games officiated by mcgeough ?

ol' mick wore the zebra stripes fourteen times during flames games, going back to the start of the 06/07 season, and the split of calgary wins/losses is exactly 50%. in the past ten games, however (all of which fall within the past calendar year, starting feb 22, 2007), there were no less than seven flames losses. this season the flames have only notched one win in five matches where mcgeough was on the ice, bringing the split to a near-shocking 80% losses thusfar in 07/08.

clearly you have to give some credit to the teams that are winning, and the state of the flames (slumping/streaking) when they're faced with the wrath of mr. magoo.... but with a flurry of bad calls in each and every tilt, it's antagonism at its best. i needn't remind the calgary blogosphere of the officiating agony we felt throughout the loss to vancouver december 27. the guy does not like it when our fourth line appears to score...

enough on that.

it's hockey day in canada and i will be sporting my former #1 jersey (the junior XL of the last era ---what i like to call the 'mike vernon banner' jersey) at the game vs. the oilers. since my rbk edge sweater is now 2-2-1, i'm gonna bench it for the night. it better work.... we need a win in the worst way....

i don't want to talk about the loss. it was one of those 'slumping team' games where there should have been at least 2 more goals on the calgary side of the board but our players could not connect stick-to-puck anytime it really counted (ie: infront of the net). i also swear to someday analyze the calgary v. mcgeough track record, and figure out exactly how lopsided the wins compare to the losses under his officiation.

but today is for david hale.

i am not expressing that hale is, by any means, a top-four defenceman. but i am continually suprised ---game after game--- how hard he plays. he is not infallible, to be sure, but he has generally good positioning, an entirely acceptable amount of hustle, a decent amount of size (and ability to throw it into bodies wearing the wrong colour), and is regularly competent when carrying the puck/stickhandling/pokechecking.

i'm pretty sure #21 had the best game of his career last night, against the 'hawks.

not only did he end up even on the night, but he played a helluvalot more minutes than usual. on his regular shift, he was paired with aucoin, but he somehow ended up flanking phaneuf in the last ten-or-so minutes of the third. he spent some time on the PK, he made craig adams bleed (so that iggy didn't have to) and he even rang one off the crossbar; a shot from the point that was inches from accurate and ?HARD !!!!

it shouldn't come as a surprise, but it's fine time that you were reminded of my eternal love towards your blue-eyed self. they say that absence makes the heart grow fonder, and i will admit that i am very excited at the prospect of watching you in nightly highlights after such a long period of void. so please consider my feelings when you select a team for your comeback.... it would really crush me if you were to suit up in the green and blue out west....

i realize it may be tempting to play with your childhood pal, marcus naslund, and your twin homeboys, but i assure you it is not the way you want to go. it rains so much on the coast, and you'll have to put up with trevor linden. it's possible that your cup memories and loyalties will draw you back to colorado, where the team is sorely missing sakic, smyth and stastny --but obviously denver is a hotbed for injuries (so you'd best steer clear). i really want to suggest you come to calgary, y'know.... cause you'd look so damn good between iggy and juice, but i'm not sure daz is gonna pony up the dough you're presumeably after. it's now public that you hate lidstrom, zetterberg, franzen, kronwall, holmstrom, samuelsson, and lilja, so it's clear you're not seeking another cup....

i guess my suggestion is: head back to the east.... honestly. i just want what's best for you.... think about how happy you could make MATS !!! :D

according to this, you're dating --which hurts my feelings a little bit. but honestly, pete ? i'll get over it. as long as you steer clear from vancouver....

i look forward to seeing you !!!

kisses, WI

[NOTE: is it just me, or does everyone imagine foppa sitting around in a bathrobe, getting fanned, massaged, and fed grapes ? every few hours, the harem pauses in electric anticipation until he speaks out in a whisper something like, "tell dallas no," at which time one of his scantily-clad minions would depart to deliver baizley the news....]

Tuesday, February 5, 2008

if you'd asked me yesterday, i would have explained how i dodged a bullet by being overseas for the pathetic month of november, and for being at a birthday party on the night the flames were annhialated by the preds. BUUUUT i suppose i was due to witness an absolute catastrophe at the hands of my team. i'm so embarassed on behalf of the Cs that i will even point out that garon has our number, that the greasers' youngsters skated circles around our vets, and that cujo looked like a 40-year-old who hasn't played pro in eons.

as for tonight, it is my honest hope that it can't possibly be worse. let's have a look, starting from last night's barrel-scrapers:

- barring a tragic bus accident, drive-by-shooting or similarly unpredictable disaster, kipper will be in nets. this is a massive step up already (sorry, cujo)

- godard looks to be suspended for tonight, which takes away keenan's option to bench him (which clearly would never have happened anyways). we've all been questionning godard's value in the lineup for months ---since his last fight, which i believe happened in NOVEMBER. so tonight we'll see if the fourth line has any value whatsoever... i hear it's gonna be mark "minutes" smith (who is useless but can skate), marcus "sign'im & sit'im" nilson (who is useless but can check) and dustin "someday they'll play me with decent wingers" boyd (who is only useless with guys like smith and nilson).

winning tonight will be no easy job, with the dingos playing as well as they have been. our problem, of late, is getting pucks in the other guys' net, so beating bryzgalov is not gonna seem a pleasant task. this should be a low-scoring affair, and with any luck, our guys will tally at least one more than their guys.

Monday, February 4, 2008

i don't really have much to say about tonight's game except it's the first of a back-to-back pair that should (by all accounts) see cujo holding fort in nets against one of his his former teams. now THAT'S exciting. realistically, keenan should give him the 'easy' task of playing the greasers tonight, but he may draw the start against the dogs tomorrow instead.

as for tonight, well, i'd call it a must-win. if we can't beat the lowly greasers, there's no hope for the future of the current incarnation of this team. apparently horcoff's out, which means some guy named curtis glencross is in. it's been said (on some comment board somewhere, probably over at battle of alberta) that he's an "all-heart" kinda guy. we'll see about that...

Sunday, February 3, 2008

i'm watchin' the habs play my rangers as i write and i've got to say, it would be a very nice time to be a canadiens fan... this team is a scoring machine and huet is looking unbeatable, for the most part. also, i would like to point out that dubinsky is making a good argument for a calder nom, even though one of the blackhawks' youngsters will still probably take home the hardware.

but i digress....

the flames looked pretty sloppy v. dallas last night, though it did seem like the ice was shockingly bad. still, the stars didn't need that excuse to pot a couple goals and hold the flames to a single tally. turco was in fine form and there was an epic amount of hustle from the guys wearing white.

with no scoring coming from anywhere in the second period, keenan et al. started switching up lines: he played tanguay on the wing with langkow and iginla, and moved huselius onto a line with lombardi and moss ---to no avail. kipper looked mostly solid, though the second stars' goal was a bit of a softie.... i dunno. it was hardly the flames' best outing of the season, though it was nowhere near the worst, either.

it'll be interesting to see what, if any, of these changes stick for the oilers game tomorrow. hopefully the flames won't take the matchup too likely as we really need the two points, and the greasers would certainly love to play spoiler (and we know they can if garon/rollie choose to step it up).

Saturday, February 2, 2008

first of all, congrats to MG : the guy is gonna get some dough for writing, and deservedly so...

secondly, there's a lot of talk about dion being close to a contract extension. i'll believe it when it's finalized and formally announced. until then, it's just speculation.

additonally, on speculation, i think someone's gonna get traded before the deadline, but i don't think it'll be tanguay. if tangs gets dealt, i think it will be sometime in the summer. there is no urgency to deal him now, unless we're trying to pick up a REALLY expensive guy, and i'm not even sure if a guy that rich exists [because maths are not my forté, i am hard pressed to figure out exactly how much a guy would be getting paid to put us over the cap for this year....]. i still worry that lombo will be the bait to shake warrener, but we shall see.... no point in worrying about it now.

dallas skates into calgary tonight and i'll be attending. which means i'll get to yell "STARS" twice during the US national anthem (one of my favorite quirks in all of sports) and, with any luck, watch the flames notch another in the win column.... hopefully the boys from the lonestar state have had one too many stops at timmy's enroute between their win in edmonton last night. on the bright side, you can tell there's a chink in the armour: not only did turco not shutout the hapless greasers but he allowed a goal by STORTINI for cryin' out loud... here's to hoping that (bad ?) luck will continue here in cowtown and we'll see some teritary scoring from the godard line.... ;)

by the sounds of it, keenan's recent practices have been pretty fun, and it seems as though the flames are really gelling chemistry-wise. it actually 'feels' like it did around this time last year, with some smiling, joking, and assorted good times behind the scenes. i would like to think that sutter is aware of this and can accept the fact that a light-hearted vibe on the bench is as important as trading up, player-wise. i don't think anyone would argue that, while brad stuart was a better player than andrew ference, that trade really fucked up the magic in flamesville. at the same time, i don't see us winning a cup with hale/eriksson/warrener on the sixth pairing....